“Oh, my dear chap! Investigatin’ the case of the blushin’ bride of Letley.”
“What, the lady who died in here before?”
“Yes. Her death is the primary factor in this death.”
“But she wasn’t shot,” Underwood objected.
“No. She was gassed. However. Anything occur to you about this room?”
“I don’t know. It’s a sombre, solemn sort of place. And that burning bush and the angel - that’s out of the Bible, isn’t it?”
“Yes. Quite good. With text. NEC TAMEN CONSUMEBATUR. ‘Yet it was not consumed.’ Suggesting that the old religion was still observed here after the Reformation. The room was an oratory.”
“Place to pray in, eh? That’s rather grim,” said Underwood.
“Yes. Considerin’ subsequent case. Yes. Bein’ a private oratory where the old proscribed religion was kept up, probability is there would be a place handy to hide the priest.”
“A priest’s hole!” Underwood exclaimed. “That’s the name, isn’t it? I’ve read about them in old houses. I never saw one.”
“You will,” Reggie sighed. “Notice the wall where the door from the gallery comes through. Thick, isn’t it?”
“Four or five foot thick,” Underwood agreed.
“Yes, all of five feet there. That’s the old wall of the castle which was here before it was turned into this house. Now then. Look along the panelling below the burning bush. Notice anything?”
“Looks like some holes that have been plugged. But it’s all old work.”
“Oh, yes. It would be. Datin’ from the death of the blushin’ bride, a hundred years ago. Through those holes the gas came in to kill her. Investigation of that case not thorough. Let us study to improve. We infer that behind the burnin’ bush there’s a hiding - place.”
“The priest’s hole,” said Underwood, and began to tap the panelling. “Sounds pretty solid. Sounds just the same as the other side of the room.”
“My dear chap! Oh, my dear chap! It would. It was made to. Thick oak panelling all round. Nowhere close up against the brickwork. Thus producin’ the same sound at any point. So that nasty fellows searchin’ for a priest’s hole shouldn’t find any clue. But look at the angel’s eye.”
Underwood came to it, put his finger in. “That’s all solid behind,” he frowned.
“I said look,” Reggie murmured.
“What - why, the edge of the eye is a bit burnt! My Lord, Mr. Fortune!”
“Yes. It is. Unfortunately, you can’t be sure when it was burnt. However. I should say we are approachin’ the explanation of the second death in this nice little room.”
“You mean Burchard was shot through there - through the angel’s eye? That means we’ve got to have this panelling down.”
“One method. Yes. Crude method. Must be a way in. Easy way. The priest would have to be able to pop in quick.” Reggie began to work over the burning bush with slow, delicate touches … a leaf moved, a faint sound of creaking wood came. “How’s that?” He looked up, and put his finger into the angel’s eye. The solid wood behind had gone.
Gripping the eye, he pulled downwards. Slowly the bush and the angel slid down behind the skirting - board, leaving a gap by which a man could worm himself into a dark cavity.
Reggie flashed a torch on the gloom. They saw a space cut out of the old massive wall. They crept in.
It was a tiny chamber barely large enough for a man to stand up or lie down. On two sides and above was the raw flint rubble of the old wall. A square brazier stood upon the floor, its rusted bars powdered with the wall’s dust.
Reggie gave a melancholy smile, and then, turning back to the panel by which they had entered, pulled it up. As it rose, and darkness covered them, they heard the creak of moving wood. He switched on a torch.
In the light, Underwood examined a simple mechanism of cross - bars. “Good Lord, that’s neat,” he exclaimed. “Just closing it brings this bar across the angel’s eye, to work like a bolt into the staple there and hold it fast.”
“Yes. Primitive and efficient. Yes.” Reggie swept the light away to the brazier. “There’s the explanation of death number one. A brazier full of charcoal provided the gas to poison the young bride who expired blushin’ from excess of carbon monoxide, enterin’ through the holes subsequently plugged. However. We can’t deal with her murderer. What about death number two?” He drew back the bar from the angel’s eye. “Look. Shot could be fired through there to hit anybody in the head who was sitting or standing in the room outside. Considering the slight burn on the wood, we may infer that shots were so fired with the muzzle restin’ just close to the angel’s eye. However. No absolute proof the burn was so caused. No sort of evidence who fired the shot.”
“Bit difficult to aim, sir,” Underwood objected.
